Mandate processing technical guide
Physical mandates take up to 1-7 days to process. eSign eMandates take 1-2 days to process. API eMandates are activated instantly.
After the mandate request is authorised by the customer, the mandate is processed via banks and NPCI's Mandate Management System (MMS). NPCI MMS assigns a Unique Mandate Reference Number (UMRN) to each valid CREATE mandate request.
In NACH, the message sender is known as the Instructing Agent and the message receiver is known as the Instructed Agent. In MMS CREATE/AMEND/CANCEL process for physical mandate and eSign eMandate, generally the sponsor bank is the Instructing Agent, and the destination bank is the Instructed Agent.
The Instructing Agent sends the INP to NPCI.
NPCI acknowledges this with INP-ACK. For CREATE, NPCI adds the UMRN.
NPCI sends the INW to the Instructed Agent.
The Instructed Agent replies with the ACCEPT (which contains acceptance or rejection of the request). If this is the destination bank, they inform the debtor.
NPCI acknowledges this with ACCEPT-ACK.
NPCI sends the response RES (which contains acceptance or rejection of the request) to the Instructing Agent. If this is the sponsor bank, they inform the creditor or service provider.
MMS process for physical mandate and eSign eMandate:
The sponsor bank sends the CREATE/AMEND/CANCEL INP to NPCI. NPCI gives back the INP-ACK and the RES.
The sponsor bank is the Instructing Agent. The destination bank is the Instructed Agent.
Physical mandate: The time from ACK to RES is 1 to 7 days.
eSign eMandate: The time from ACK to RES is 1 to 2 days.
MMS process for API eMandate:
After the CREATE mandate request is authorised by the customer in ONMAGS, overnight NPCI informs the sponsor bank via INW, and informs the destination bank via RES.
By the next day, the sponsor bank consumes the INW and generates reports for the creditor and/or service provider. However, the creditor and/or service provider are already aware of the mandate from ONMAGS APIs.
MMS process for API eMandate - legacy flow (pre 2021):
After the CREATE mandate request was authorised by the customer in ONMAGS, the destination bank had to generate the INP and send it to MMS, which would acknowledge with INP-ACK. MMS sends INW to the sponsor bank, which would respond with ACCEPT. MMS would acknowledge with ACCEPT-ACK. MMS would send RES to the destination bank.
This process was prone to issues. The debtor, creditor and service provider assumed from the successful ONMAGS response that the mandate is registered, but sometimes the destination bank would not send the INP or the sponsor bank would not send the ACCEPT, resulting in a mismatch between ONMAGS and MMS. Because of this NPCI abandoned this flow.
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